The MILF Diet: Contains Whole grains, Vegetables, Proteins (plant-based), Sea vegetables, Natural sweets, and fermented foods

If you want to look like a MILF, feel like a MILF, and even chew food like a MILF, then The MILF Diet is the diet for you. Jessica Porter, author of The MILF Diet, says by eating whole, natural, and tasty foods of the MILF Diet, you’ll not only turn back the clock and find inner balance, you’ll strengthen your immune system and reduce your risk of serious disease all while releasing your inner MILF (Porter,2012, excerpt on book cover). With years of experience, Porter will take you step by step to becoming a MILF.

Porter’s obsession of promoting and maintaining a healthy inner balance all originated from a healthy cooking class she took at NYU Tisch School which explored the practice of macrobiotics. Macrobiotics is a diet where the main focus is on foods that can be drawn from Zen Buddhism and to keep an even balance between yin and yang elements of food and cookware. Shortly before she was due to graduate and after she picked up the macrobiotics lifestyle, which showed incredible results, Porter started her own catering business called “Big Life Foods” in which macrobiotic meals would be supplied to health food stores. In order to become an expert in the macrobiotics field, Porter served as manager for the “Way to Health” program at the Kushi Institute… where she completed all three levels of macrobiotic training which included the in depth study of cooking, macrobiotic philosophy, health care, and oriental diagnosis (“The Healthy Hip Chick”, n.d). Porter went on to travel internationally for three years learning more about macrobiotics and working under some of the best and original macrobiotic chefs in the world, she even was a personal chef for multiple celebrities and was Roger Waters private chef for eight months. Earning the name “The Healthy Hip Chick”, Porter went on to specialize and master the skills in hypnotherapy, smoking cessation, and hypnobirthing where therapeutic relaxation helps relieve anxiety, stress, and discontinues bad habits. Now these days, the repeated author is either lecturing the benefits of healthy eating, training midwives and doctors in hypnotherapy, or cooking. Here is a picture of Porter.

 

Fig. 1 (Maragaret Malandruccolo, 2012)

The MILF Diet falls into the health and wellness category because the main idea is to feel good while eating healthy all while finding one’s inner balance. Porter introduces the theory of The Yin and Yang of Foods where the natural yin foods have a relaxing, expanding, and cooling effect on the body while the yang foods create a more contraction, heating, and pressure effect (Porter, 2012, p.29). There are some foods that sit in the middle of the spectrum, but it’s been suggested that you never want to consume extreme yin or yang foods because that will throw off one’s inner balance. Some examples of some extreme yang foods are: meat (pork, beef, etc.), poultry, eggs, salty cheeses, hard, dry baked flour products, some food additives and preservatives, and caffeine (which also has strong yin, too) (Porter, 2012, p. 30). The yang foods tend to be more saltier and denser because they contain more sodium and less potassium. Over consuming yang foods can have someone feeling the inability to relax, self-absorbed, have a lack of sensitivity, and over competitive. If yang foods are consumed over long periods of time they could potentially be linked to heart disease and various types of cancers occurring in the lower parts of, or deep within the body. Just like the more common concept of Yin and Yang we hear these days, the yin of food is the opposite of the yang food. Examples of yin foods are white sugar, milk, butter, tropical fruits, alcohol, marijuana, birth control pills and some additives and preservatives. An excessive consumption of yin foods can have one’s emotional levels altered as well as their overall behavior. Side effects of consuming more yin foods than yang would be depression, chronic fear, laziness, and being self absorbed. With the equal combination of these forces, the diet will have one feeling internally balanced.

fig. 2, Wikipedia

As surprising as it may seem, the milf diet isn’t only intended for mothers who… you know the rest. You don’t need to be a mother to want to feel good and look good and as stated by Porter, “I wrote this book for all the women out there who want to crack the code” (p. 19) and Porter at the time she wrote the book, wasn’t even a mother herself. Porter had help creating The MILF Diet from some of her fellow “skinny” milf friends and some have kids, some have a DILF and no kids, and some plan to adopt. Additionally, on page 59 the question “Is the MILF Diet Expensive?” and Porter goes to say, “I’ll start with the bad news: some of the most powerful elements of the MILF diet are expensive…”. Based of this and some additional information, I assume this book was intended specifically for an audience of moms or older women who want to look good, feel good, and have the money to spend, but ultimately this book could be applied to anyone. They even include kids meals.

For kitchen prep the MILF Diet only requires vegetable knives, a wooden cutting board, heavy pots with lids, wooden and stainless steel pots, and more. It’s also mentioned that you’ll need access to a gas stove. Based on the materials, this cookbook would be aimed towards a middle to higher class because not only are these materials necessary, but they also have yin and yang forces. That is why Porter has stated specifically that wooden and stainless steel utensils are needed for this diet.

The MILF Diet was published in 2012 and during that time and still today, women are portrayed a certain way in society. Women feel pressured to look a certain way and indulge in certain foods. After a women has kids, most times they work really hard to get rid of that extra weight gained during pregnancy. With its welcoming cover and recipes, any women can go looking from a “mom” to a “MILF”.

fig. 3, FitDay

This books’ main audience is women, especially moms, but DILF’s are briefly mentioned in the book. The book gives a section on what your DILF should be eating and what yin and yang forces he should be consuming so that he can feel his best. It is said that a DILF needs to consume more salts, grains, proteins, and even some fish if it’s craved and a MILF must consume more vegetables,sweets, and fruits (p. 91). As I mentioned previously, the biggest assumption about this book is the targeted audience. Little does everyone know that you don’t have to have children in order to dig in to this diet, kids recipes are included, and there’s snipits throughout the book where Porter gives advice, tips, and skill suggestions that help her connect with her inner balance.

Fig. 4, New Found Balance

One of the things I can link to the book from class is the practice of Gastronomy. Porter stresses to really get in a mindset and using the precise and right utensils when preparing a meal. Second concept I can link to Porter is the rhetoric and the way she communicates to the reader. She uses many ‘spirits of food’ when she describes the end product of the recipes. She uses words like ‘sour, salty, sweet, and pungent’. Porter also gives off a “cool mom vibe” with her casual, comedic, and nonchalant communication. Lastly, all the essential ingredients used in these recipes have been proven to benefit your health and decrease chances of serious diseases. Porter gives the pros and cons of every ingredient used and her reasonings, which is helpful because lots of times people don’t know the actual reasons as to ‘the why?’. This could be looked at as a conflict because as we know in the history of nutrition, scientists were teaching people nutrition based on what they “thought they believed” so, is it just an endless cycle? Or can looking like a MILF be as easy as 1,2,3?

 

 

 

References

Fruits and Vegetables: Getting to the root of the problem! (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2019, from http://www.newfoundbalance.com/fruits-and-vegetables-getting-to-the-root-of-the-problem/

The MILF Diet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2019, from https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-MILF-Diet/Jessica-Porter/9781451655711

Porter, J. (n.d.). Welcome. Retrieved from http://hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/author.html

Porter, J. (2013). The MILF diet: Let the power of whole foods transform your body, mind, and spirit– deliciously. New York: Emily Bestler Books/Atria.

Yin and yang. (2019, April 09). Retrieved April 13, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

11 Causes for Weight Gain in Women / Nutrition / For Women. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2019, from https://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/for-women/11-causes-for-weight-gain-in-women.html